Brown Vs Board of Education
...lawsuit. This type of complaint was not unheard of and brought together under the Browns’ designation were companion cases from South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware, all of which involved the same basic question: Does the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment prohibit racial segregation in the public schools? The Brown case was originally led by Charles H. Houston and Thurgood Marshall, who were both up and coming African American civil rights attorneys for the NAACP. Thurgood Marshall later became a Supreme Court justice who was known for being liberal on issues concerning civil equality and desegregation. This team successfully dismantled the legal basis for racial segregation in schools and other public facilities by declaring that the discriminatory nature of racial segregation... “violates the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees all citizens equal protection under the law.” Brown V. Board of Education laid the foundation for shaping future national policies regarding racial segregation. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas defense of segregated schools was simply trying to prepare black children for the segregation they would face during adulthood. The board also argued that segregated schools were not necessarily harmful to the education of black students, giving examples of African Americans over coming great adversity, such as Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington. While ruling in favor of Oliver Brown, the Supreme Court also overturned one of the most widely sited doctrines, the “separate but equal” doctrine, and ordered the desegregation of public schools across America. The unanimous decision of the Supreme Court was delivered by Chief Justice Earl Warren and declared that: "separate education facilities are inherently unequal" and that racial segregation violates the equal protection clause of the 14th ...